Warfare

I've been obsessed with spiritual warfare for the last couple weeks.  I've been thinking about the invisible battlefields of my mind and of the spiritual realm that exists all around us. And I've been meditating on each piece of armor that God has provided for us to have victory.  I'm finally moving past that section in Ephesians, having just studied the last weapon in depth.  As I pondered each piece of armor, I visualized myself (and some specific other people that God brought to mind) wearing it.  I saw myself standing on a mountaintop in the wind, wearing the helmet, breastplate, shoes, etc. and holding up my shield and  pointing my sword.  Then I said to God, "Here I am, all suited up and ready for battle.  What do I do now?"  The answer was clear: pray.  

The very next words in Ephesians after the armor section are four consecutive commands to pray.  "Pray passionately...pray...and pray also...yes, pray..."  Sometimes after we've exhausted all our ideas and done everything we can think to do in our own strength, we throw up our hands and say, "Well, I guess the only  thing left to do is pray" as if that were some weak, last-resort option.  Instead, it is the most powerful, impactful thing we can do.  When I say I'm praying for you, know that I mean I'm putting on all the armor and going to battle against evil forces for you.  

Spirituality for Dummies, chapter 2

Mike and I were talking about current high school/college students vs. being a student "back in our day" (we are getting older by the second!).  We were saying kids these days can get an extension on a deadline if they have a hangnail, and back in our day, you could be on your deathbed but you still had to turn in your work.  If kids fail a test now, they have an opportunity to retake it.  They have chances to earn extra credit too.  When we were in school, if you failed, you failed, and your grades reflected it.  There was no "everybody gets a trophy" mentality.  

Then I had a revelation: maybe there was grace available to me back then, and I just didn't know it!  I never asked for it, never expected it, never thought I deserved it.  I thought I had to do everything exactly according to the rules and in my own strength.  I'm still working on letting go of that mentality.  I don't have to be perfect, and neither do you. We don't have to perform to earn the reward.  Jesus is perfect, and because our identity is wrapped up in Him, God's grace covers us!  

A revelation from Ephesians

Five months ago, I dove deep into the ocean of Ephesians, and God and I have been swimming along in those currents every day.  For the last several days, I've been meditating on fighting spiritual battles.  This morning, the Holy Spirit prompted me to do some research on ancient Roman battle techniques. I'm quite certain that this was not my own idea, because I've always had zero interest in history, especially military tactics.  But there I was, with fingers that hardly even seemed my own, googling Roman warfare, and I discovered something fascinating! 

In ancient warfare, soldiers lit arrows on fire before shooting them, so that even if they bounced off their targets' shields, they would land at their feet and burn them. The Romans covered their shields with thick animal hide, and before going into battle, they would dip their hide-covered shields into water. Then the flaming arrows of the enemy would extinguish upon contact with the water-soaked shields. 

As I was reading this, the Lord spoke to me that before we enter spiritual battle, we should immerse our shields of faith into the living water of Christ, so that the fiery arrows the devil aims at us will be extinguished on impact and will fall to the ground as the smoking, harmless rubbish they are.  Our battlefields are our minds, and the devil has no weapons that are any match for the armor God has provided for us!  Check out the sixth chapter of Ephesians to discover our weapons of warfare.

(This past Sunday, my pastor told me that he had a vision of me sitting at an old desk, writing.  And when he asked God what I was writing, God told him that I was writing a book called "Spirituality for Dummies".  He encouraged me to write that book.  Maybe this blog post is chapter one?)

Another Holy Spirit encounter

I woke up with the song "This is How I Fight My Battles" in my head.  I haven't heard it lately, and it's not even one that I particularly like, but it wouldn't stop playing in a loop as the background soundtrack of my whole morning.  Then Becky sent me a message asking if I’ve heard the song “This is How I Fight My Battles.” I couldn't believe she said that. The power of the Holy Spirit blows me away in moments like that. I will learn to play that song.

As I'm memorizing Ephesians, I usually add a verse every day, but several days ago I felt like I should camp on chapter six, verse 10, so I did. I was a little annoyed that I wasn't making any progress, but the Lord reminded me that there are no deadlines, no pressure, and no rules, except those I'm putting on myself. Because I took a few extra days on verse 10, my verses today lined up with the theme He had going about fighting my battles, and it was extra easy to memorize. His timing is always perfect.

“Put on God’s complete set of armor provided for us, so that you will be protected as you fight against the evil strategies of the accuser! Your hand-to-hand combat is not with human beings, but with the highest principalities and authorities operating in rebellion under the heavenly realms. For they are a powerful class of demon-gods and evil spirits that hold this dark world in bondage. Because of this, you must wear all the armor that God provides so you’re protected as you confront the slanderer, for you are destined for all things and will rise victorious.”

An Almost Perfect Day

Yesterday.  Three things on the schedule.  A Christmas party with old friends, a meeting I didn't want to attend right after the party, and leading worship by myself for a group at church that night.  Just before I left for the party, the meeting I was dreading got cancelled.  Driving to the party, I prayed my usual prayer that God would use me, speak through me, love through me.  Had a great time at the party and reconnected with a friend I haven't talked with in awhile.  

On the way home, I was thankful for a some unexpected free time before worship that night.  I had been practicing, and the Lord had given me a song list, so I wasn't feeling nervous about it, but I had a strange urge to go to the church and practice.  I still hadn't decided whether I was going to or not, but the car just sort of drove itself there, so I went with it.  My feet took me to a door that I don't usually use, and right inside it was the new cleaning lady that I'd met only once a few months ago.  I felt like I should tell her she was doing a good job, so I did that and started heading for the piano, but her face stopped me.  She was crying.  

I went around the table and wrapped her up in a big hug.  She told me some stuff, including the fact that she was thinking about quitting and had been feeling pressured and unappreciated and needing a hug.  I gave her a pep talk, prayed for her, invited her to take a break and come and sing with me.  Worship always makes everyone feel better.  She shyly said that she happened to bring her guitar.  I said, "Go get your guitar and I'll get you a music stand, and we're going to have a worship party." So we did. 

Becky has a beautiful voice, a talent for guitar, and an incredible gift for harmonizing.  I asked her if she could teach me to sing harmony like that.  She said, "You just sing the note above or below the melody, and it's like two dolphins swimming together one on top of the other."  What a beautiful image!  Her dolphin swam so gracefully with mine.  I could feel the anointing.  I invited her to lead worship with me that night, and she said, "Can you come a little early so we can practice again?" Music to my ears.

I came home for a few hours and went back early, and there was Becky, ready to practice. We did the songs that God had suggested to me earlier in the week, and I felt His presence strongly. Then the leader of the group asked  if I would do this song I'd written called "Peace" because she wanted to use it as the theme song for their study.  Ah...a chance to put into practice the spontaneity that God has been working on with me.  I happened to have my book of music next to me, and I opened it, hoping to find the music to this song.  It was right on top, AND there were two copies of it!  I handed one to Becky and said, "It's a simple song. You'll figure it out." She immediately did just that.  What a gift she has!  It was delightful to hear harmony with the song I wrote.  

Hours after I got home, I was still basking in the glow of the whole day, and I looked out my window and saw the biggest snowflakes I'd ever seen, gushing down from the sky in a glorious downpour.  There was no snow in the forecast, and it had just been raining.  As I stood there staring at it, Sarah walked down the hall on her way to bed.  I said, "Sarah, look at this snow!" and she came and stood at the window with me.  Then she said, "Do you want to go outside and admire it?"  My heart filled up with love for her at that moment.  Less than a minute later, we were standing in the middle of the street, late at night, twirling in the snow, catching it on our tongues, marveling at the size of it.  God's blessings showering down on us.  What a wonderful day!

The death of the Great Beast

A thing appeared on my lip several weeks ago.  It was ugly and annoying, but it didn't hurt or itch, so I ignored it and waited for it to go away.  It looked like a giant whitehead, but I knew it couldn't be, because:
A.  It appeared out of nowhere, fully formed, didn't build up like a pimple would.
B.  It didn't hurt.
C.  It didn't pop when I stuck a needle in it and squeezed it.
D.  I've never gotten one on my lip.
E.  It stayed there unchanging for several weeks.
F.  I've been through puberty. I know what zits look like.  This is not my first rodeo.
I assume it's some kind of cyst of something.  I briefly consider cancer before dismissing it.  A few days before I was going to be leading worship by myself, I decided to send a picture of it to my doctor and ask him about removing it, because nobody would be able to enter into worship with that hideous thing bobbing along on my lip.  

Meanwhile, Mike examined it and declared, "That's a whitehead. It needs popped."  He takes what I consider to be an unusual amount of satisfaction in popping whiteheads.  Sarah, freshly home from college, agreed and offered this insight: "You've been feeding it by putting Vaseline on your lips." I presented the above-outlined arguments to them about how it can't possibly be that, but Mike was pretty sure of his diagnosis, so I submitted to his wisdom and treatment plan.  He came at me with the tweezers, and...well, in the interest of not reliving the trauma (which involved fluids of various types and colors, lots of tears, several attempts over several days, other gory details), let's just say he was right.  

I suggested to Sarah that if she gets married she should find a man who will pop her zits, and she confidently replied, "I can pop my own zits." Yes, I used to think the same thing, but that was before I met the Menopause Zit, which is an entirely different creature.

As I was in the recovery room with ice on my lip and a bloody towel next to me, I had the horrifying realization that I had sent a picture of a pimple to my doctor.  I deleted it and hoped he would never see it, but no, it had already been sent.  This morning I got his response, asking me questions about it.  I said, "It's been resolved.  Thanks for responding.  Can you please delete that picture and pretend we never had this conversation?"